Metanoia
by Jaquiline Hyde
Summary: [contest fic] S'funny... You always wonder what happens after you die. By the time you get there, you don't really care anymore. So lemme just tell you what afterlife really is. If you can call it an afterlife. Which, I guess, you really can't.


_metanoia (n): fundamental alteration in one's system of beliefs_

[Metanoia]   
  
  
  


S'funny. 

I mean, I never really thought that I'd be back. 'Specially not borrowing some... kid's body. 

Then again, I never thought I'd be back at all. 

Yeah, yeah, I know. All Egyptians believe in rebirth! All life begins anew! Thou shalt receive a second life, in the paradise that is the afterlife! 

Right. I gotta tell ya, that's not entirely true. 

Lemme just say, religiously speaking, I was a pretty lousy Egyptian. Yeah, my theory of how life worked back in Kuru-Elna - while it was around, anyway - was very different from your average Egyptian. It was basically... Yer born, ya live, and ya die. That's it. That's... it. 

Back in Kuru-Elna - or as the Egyptian hierarchy like to call it, Thief Town - I had a pretty simple life. Help mother with the chores around the house, listen to the stories of the local tomb robbers, playing with the neighborhood dogs, exploring the cliffs the town was built into... stuff like that. And then, of course, the Pharaoh demanded it was destroyed.... Well, everything changed. I grew up. The wrong way, ya, but I grew up. 

Sorry... Sorry, I'm getting off topic. 

So, anyway... I met Zork. I made a deal with him. 

I really, really wish I hadn't. 

But anyway, that's officially what got around to me becoming some sort of body-hopper - perhaps hijacker is the better word - running through time, taking my in-betweens in the Shadow Realm, and waiting for that window of opportunity to exact my revenge. 

This is how I pitifully try to explain why I'm now in what I'm pretty sure is 20th century (you lose count, ya know?), in some kid's body - by the way, he really needs to start taking some form of physical activity, and no, Chess Club does not count. - instead of rotting peacefully, centuries ago, like I should be. 

So much for my theory, huh? 

Which, in some really, really roundabout way, brings me to the subject of reincarnation. 

Hah. It almost makes me laugh, cynically, of course, to think that I had made it this far... And it really wasn't even me. 

Think about it. 

My actual, physical body was destroyed... quite some time ago. It may have returned, sort of. But it's never been exactly the same. 

Take for example, my current host. Hikari? Aibou? Ryou, Bakura, Bakura Ryou... Whatever you wanna call him. Anyway, he needs to use decidedly less conditioner. Maybe then he wouldn't be so... Fluffy. And why does my hair seem to get longer each and every time I get a new host? And paler, too. I recall originally being much, much darker. I always seem to end up with brown eyes, now. And... I really don't remember such a... a soft voice. Usually it sounded like I had gravel in my mouth. 

He's different. 

But he's me. Sort of. 

It's my body he's using. Only, it's his now. 

Look, I realize I've been saying the same thing over and over... 

Reincarnation... It's not a complete rebirth. It's altering the previous life enough to be vaguely recognizable... And changing it enough to make a whole new life. It's not an after life, or a second chance. It's something new, completely. Period. 

I kind of... really, really wish I hadn't made that deal with Zork. Everything - _everything _- leads back to him. The only reason I haven't set out for some way to the past and going out to kill Zork is... because it means I won't accept his deal, and get reincarnated. I means my body won't be reused and my spirit won't be reshaped. I'd be taking Ryou's life. Not that I... that I care, or anything. I mean, I do need his body after all or Poof! right back to the Shadow Realm... The only way that would ever happen would be if Ryou lost his life. 

I just can't let that happen. 

Because he'll never get another chance. 

S'funny.   
  
  
  


**End**

A short (very...) monologue from Yami Bakura's point of view. An entry for a contest, where the theme was "Is there life after death?" I figured, you know, he'd know. And I needed to practice writing him, anyway. R+R. Tell me watcha think. 


End file.
